Team News:
Swindon Wildcats – Renny Marr (NM), Dean Skinns (NM), Sam Godfrey, Neil Liddiard, Ben Nethersell, Tyler Plews, Sam Smith, Stevie Whitfield, Edgars Bebris, Sam Bullas, Ollie Endicott, Jack Goodchild, Bailey Hind-Pitcher, Chris Jones, Tomasz Malasinski, Aaron Nell, Balint Pakozdi, Reed Sayers, Emil Svec, Floyd Taylor, Cain Russell
Leeds Knights – Sam Gospel (NM), Lewis Baldwin, Jordan Griffin, Archie Hazeldine, Ross Kennedy, Ben Solder, Bobby Streetly, Sam Zajac, Adam Barnes, Kieran Brown, Joe Coulter, Matty Davies, Jordan Fisher, Ethan Hehir, Lewis Houston, Cole Shudra, Brandon Whistle
Club History:
The Leeds team was formed in 2019 and they formed under the name Leeds Chiefs and went straight into the NIHL National. The first season for them was a struggle given they were without a home rink for half of the season but despite this they surprised a few teams along the way but unfortunately, they still finished bottom of the table. Going into the 2021-22 season the team was rebranded the Leeds Knights under the ownership of Steve Nell.
Previous Seasons Performance:
NIHL National – 10th – GP49 – W13 – L34 – OTL2 – GF145 – GA229 – PTS28
21/21 Season Meetings So Far:
04/09/2021 Swindon Wildcats 3-2 Leeds Knights
05/09/2021 Leeds Knights 3-4 Swindon Wildcats
Previous Season Meetings:
19/10/2019 Swindon Wildcats 4-3 Leeds Chiefs
10/11/2019 Leeds Chiefs 1-4 Swindon Wildcats
26/01/2020 Leeds Chiefs 5-6 Swindon Wildcats
14/03/2020 Swindon Wildcats 5-1 Leeds Chiefs
The Coach:
Tonight’s opposing head coach is Canadian native Dave Whistle; born in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Whistle played in the major junior leagues for Kitchener, Saint-Jean, Kamloops and Brandon but he took the choice to go the university route in the end and played for 4 years with Brandon University.
Following his university career Whistle made the move over to the UK, he played for a number of teams including Billingham, Romford, Basingstoke, Telford and Bracknell. He is most remembered for his stint with the Bees in the Superleague.
In 1998 Whistle retired from playing and took over the head coaching duties of the Bees, this was his first head coaching role and it was the first of many. Following his stint with Bracknell, Whistle also took up head coaching roles with Belfast, Cardiff and Sheffield all in either the Superleague or the Elite League. In 2006 Whistle moved back to Canada and was coaching in various roles at a few teams up until 2015 and then following a break he has returned to head coaching responsibilities with the Leeds Knights for the upcoming NIHL National season.
